Given that the majority of bulk materials are usually not generated where they are to be employed, it is necessary to load bulk materials onto various transports to take them to their ultimate locations for use. For example, coal, metal ore and the like will often be mined in relatively remote locations and then loaded onto ships or barges for transport to industrial centers. The handling of bulk materials in such situations, and particularly at the rates and volumes demanded by modern industry, presents many challenges.
For example, when loading a ship or barge, it frequently necessary to move the vessel during the loading process in order to desirably distribute the bulk material at selected locations—which movements can result in an interruption of the loading process. A separate, but related, problem is getting the bulk material from a common supply point to the equipment used for loading a particular ship or ships—which often involves transport over a considerable distance.
By way of example, well known ship loading systems are described with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,563 to Grathoff for a Bulk Material Loading and Unloading Facility for Sea-Going Ships; U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,324 to Horak for Shiploader System; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,156 to Shehata for Ecological Shiploader, the contents of which patents are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. Even with such well known bulk material handling equipment and conveying systems, further developments are possible.